Researcher Vera John-Steiner wanted to know: What nourishes sustained productivity in the lives of creative individuals?She interviewed over 70 living creative geniuses and analyzed the notebooks of 50 geniuses from the past (including Tolstoy, Einstein, etc.) to look at their work habits.

She assumed her work was going to end up as a review of Eureka! moments in the greatest creative minds. But she was completely wrong. "Eureka! moments turned out to be a myth. John-Steiner found that strokes of genius happened over time. A great idea comes into the world by drips and drabs, false starts, and rough sketches."

"Creativity started with the notebooks’ sketches and jottings, and only later resulted in a pure, powerful idea. The one characteristic that all of these creatives shared— whether they were painters, actors, or scientists— was how often they put their early thoughts and inklings out into the world, in sketches, dashed-off phrases and observations, bits of dialogue, and quick prototypes."

"Instead of arriving in one giant leap, great creations emerged by zigs and zags as their creators engaged over and over again with these externalized images."

Check out the complete article for more ideas - and then break out your sketch book and start capturing your ideas.